This is what Zach cleaned, wish I had a before pic with it by itself, he really did a good job considering how bad it was. It's not done, but for a 5 year old, not bad at all, you can at least see metal now, before it was just grime. Need to do some research also, theres something different from my trans to the one from the junker, some kind of module, I'm betting that the 97 is a vac controlled, and mine is an electronic, making this trans useless to me except for some internals if they arent toast.

Nice job Zachy!

So, I was waiting on the proper size harmonic puller bolts to come in (M6x80MM, PITA to find) and started ripping into the second transmission to see if it was a viable replacement for mine, or if it was salvage for a few parts. I shredded a Napa IMPACT torx socket with just my regular socketwrench.. odd. I ended up dremeling a slot in the bolt and was able to unscrew it with a large flat screwdriver. Napa's getting that POS back, WTF.

Anywho, got some pics as I dug into the trans. Guess what I found doing it.. M6x80mms... fuckers. I snatched up 3 of them and popped the harmonic balancer off the engine and set it aside. I pulled the trans as far aart as I could until I needed the slide hammer to pop the axle out... was homing I could see what was making it hang up but no luck.

Fuckit, lemme play with the engine now that I have the balancer off. Got the timing cover off, and found a WONDERFULLY stretched belt, shouldnt be surprised, engine had at least 133k on it. Decided that since I got it this far, I may as well just do it... so I pulled the pistons out, and took the studs out of the mains. Thinking I need a hammer to get the main caps off, so this is as good a place to stop as anyway. My foot is screaming at me any, gonna put this up, take a hydrocodone and toss down a few Smirnoffs while I surf /b/ and FB.

You need a parts washer STAT! The pistons don't look too terrible, just old and used. What looks like it could be an issue is the block. It's hard to tell from the pics but, it looks like you not only had an oil leak somewhere ; but the engine had some high heat issue to cook it like that. It's probably a very good thing you decided to go as deep as you have but, keep in mind that an older car is like an older house. The deeper you go; the more work you find. I fall prey to this every single time I do work on my house.

the pictures arent showing it right, it was at the dark end of the garage, all that discoloration is actually oil and varnish. And that reminds me, I need to call my father in law and see if he has a pressure washer I can borrow. Now that I have everything out of the block, I can finally clean it and paint it. Looking at it, the block is marked with '98' in paint marker. My stepfather thinks that it may be a rebuild junkyard engine, and from the shape of it, I'm inclined to agree, seriously, I've broken only 1 screw during the entire deal, and everything is nice and tight except the 1 set of rings which may or may not be an issue. Gotta ask Sausage tonite, this far into a block is new to me, but he's done it a few times.